US Appeals Court Resurrects Apple Motorola Patent Row

A US appeals court has ruled that both Apple and Motorola Mobility (owned by Google for now) can resume patent infringement claims made against each other that were dismissed by another court two years ago, raising the possibility that the Cupertino-based company can yet achieve its dream of imposing a sales ban against an Android manufacturer.

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois dismissed the claims in June 2012, ruling that neither side was able to prove that it had suffered damages and that any injunction banning the sale of Motorola devices would harm consumers.

Apple Motorola patent row

However the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has stated that Apple can now seek an injunction because Judge Richard Posner defined one of the company’s patents too narrowly. The appeals court also overturned a decision that Motorola Mobility could not seek damages from the alleged infringement of its own patents, but crucially, it cannot request an injunection.

Apple has been involved in a number of lawsuits with Android smartphone manufacturers in the last few years, most notably Samsung, but it has not yet been able to secure a sales ban. Google acquired Motorola Mobility in 2010 in order to gain access to its vast patent portfolio to help its manufacturing partners fend off lawsuits.

Google agreed to sell Motorola to Lenovo earlier this year, but retained the vast majority of the patents. It is unclear whether the Chinese PC manufacturer has assumed any liability for the ongoing patent dispute.

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